Changes for the Better
by Number 46
Summary: Julien and Marlene are stuck together. And please! I know Skipper and Marlene were meant to be. But maybe, under the right circumstances...
1. Goodbyes

Chapter One: Goodbyes

Yes, you read that right. Somebody is leaving when the story is just starting. What a shame, they're missing out on a great tale! And a great tail! Look at him swish that thing around!

* * *

Skipper awkwardly made his way over to Marlene's habitat. There was a matter he needed to discuss with her. He liked her, yes, she was very nice, yes, she made a great friend, all yes. But there was something that put an awkward knot in his stomach. He tried to plan out what he was going to say, but he couldn't, not really.

Too soon, he was there. With a big, bracing breath, Skipper knocked at Marlene's door.

* * *

Marlene had been rearranging some flowers she had found. They reminded her of a fuzzy memory of a large, wide place, with brown and green and blue and so many colors. It had seemed so beautiful, but she couldn't remember anything except for it being so wonderful and big. And… there seemed to be a half-buried memory of Julien being _cute._ Marlene laughed out loud at the thought. She liked Skipper much more than him.

Just then, she heard a knock. She paused a little. No one she knew of would _knock._ Still, it might be Skipper… or Julien. She laughed a little at her own joke as she went to answer the door.

It _was_ Skipper. He stood awkwardly in the doorway. "Um, Marlene? I need to talk to you."

Marlene was a bit surprised. It wasn't everyday that Skipper would _knock- _let alone be awkward about… anything, really. "Sure, come in. I, uh, was just looking at some flowers I found." Skipper, who had been waddling in, stopped for a second, powerlessly letting some strange, new sort of agony surge through him, but just as suddenly as it came, it stopped. He shook his head and continued inside.

"What is it, Skipper?" Marlene asked when he was seated on her couch.

"Marlene…" Skipper took a large breath before asking her, scared of her response. "How do you feel about… me?"

Marlene paused. Did he mean what she thought he meant? Did he, maybe, just maybe, feel the same way as she? Was it as awkward for him as it was for her? Could it be that he loved her?

"I like you. A lot. I feel really happy whenever you're around. And sometimes, I think, no, I'm certain, that I love you." Marlene looked straight into Skipper's eyes. She was just as afraid of his response as he had been of hers.

"I was afraid of that."

"What?"

"I was afraid of that. I'm sorry, Marlene, but I don't… I just don't…"

Marlene felt tears begin to swell in the corner of her eyes and felt her face get hot. "-Love me. You just don't love me."

It hurt Skipper to hurt Marlene, but he nodded. "I like you. A lot. And I feel happy around you. But I've never thought for a second that I loved you. And, before I go, I wanted to know how you felt."

One word caught Marlene's attention. "Go? Go where?"

"To... To Africa." Skipper felt his face get warm.

"You're transferring to Africa, just because you don't LIKE ME?!" Marlene blinked away her tears and felt a different emotion. Anger. Throwing things, white hot fury. She was happy to feel the chemicals released into her blood, to feel the reactions taking place in her brain as she quickly turned from sad to angry. She felt more in control. She grinned on the inside and growled on the outside as she took the flowers out of their vase and threw it at Skipper. He ducked, letting it fly over his head and crash against the wall.

"Marlene, I know you're angry at me, but there's no need for destruction and violence."

Angry as heck, Marlene clenched her fists and stalked right up to him, glaring him straight in the eye as she spoke. "I. Loved. You. You _finally_ knock, you come in acting all like you might love me too, then you say you don't love me, and you're transferring yourself to AFRICA, and I'm supposed to be left all alone, left with no one? What do you expect me to do? What _can_ I do? I want to rip you limb from limb, but I can't do that; I want to kill you, but no, I could never do that; I can't kiss you, I can't kill you, I can't scream at you until my lungs are too tired for me to even breathe, and now I can't even throw things at you?! I DON'T THINK SO!" Marlene grabbed a broom and tried to knock Skipper over the head with it, but he was too fast.

"Marlene! Stop!" Skipper's voice was becoming whiny. Now that she knew how he felt about her, she was disappointed. She was angry. And she wasn't going to let him go without a fight. As Skipper edged out of her habitat, she ran after him and tried to beat him, but he started running to the aircraft waiting for him. His years of military training and his prepared getaway did not fail him. They took to the sky.

Marlene saw this, grabbed some stones, and began pelting his plane. The humans didn't notice the plane very much, but they saw the rain of rocks. Several felt it as well. Her anger left her as the penguins left her. Marlene sighed. Kicking over a few more rocks, she walked back home. It would hurt without him. The days, the nights when she didn't hear Skipper's commanding voice call out orders. When she didn't hear a peep from next door. When she looked over there, and saw it empty. She would wonder what they could be doing, then realize that they weren't there anymore, and it would hurt again and again. As she thought about how poor her existence in the zoo would become now, a few tears began streaking down her cheeks.

* * *

Julien noticed her brief episode and hid in fear. Seeing that they got out in the open, he tried to find out what made her so angry, but he could tell nothing except that she was yelling at the penguin leader and that she was extremely furious. He dodged the rocks, and stared in wonder at the plane. It seemed far too small to hold a hippo, a lion, a giraffe and a zebra, but that seemed to be the idea.

"Aha! Now no one will stop me from playing my music all night long!" Julien danced with glee and ordered Mort to hit it. Sadly and slowly, Mort did as he commanded. Julien saw that he wasn't happy about serving him eternally, and leaned over to Maurice. "Eh, why is Mort not being happy to follow my every word? Usually he is being annoyingly happy."

"King Julien, the penguins just left. Don't you feel a little _sad?_" Maurice prompted.

"No. Should I?"

Maurice sighed. "King Julien, have you noticed how everyone in the zoo has a purpose?"

"To serve me."

"…Sure. You noticed _how_ they serve you?"

"Uh…"

"Julien, you are our king, and I can't say anything bad about you. I advise you, Marlene helps everyone feel better, the gorillas and flamingoes … are over there and hardly ever come into our problems. Mort annoys you. You get rid of him. There isn't really anything interesting going on, is there?"

"You left out the pesky penguins. They yell _all_ the time, and they never let me play my music, and they never relax."

Maurice bit his lip and held on to his slipping patience. "Yes, but they spice things up, in their own way of course, they protect us from being transferred away, and they fight off sewer rats, alligators, and skorcas before they ever reach the zoo."

"True. But so?"

"_So,_ now _you_ have to protect us from getting transferred away! _You_ have to fight off all these things! _You_ have to provide us all with entertainment! _You_ have to cover for them now that they are gone!"

Julien backed away from the angry lemur and his list of his new responsibilities. "Maurice, I am thinking that you are being a little ridiculous. I don't have to do all those things. Eh, Mort does." Julien gestured to the tiny fur ball dancing around slowly and obediently.

Maurice put his head in his hand in frustration. "You'll see, King Julien. You'll understand tomorrow, maybe." And he turned and stalked off, leaving Julien and Mort. Julien wore an expression on his face that he never wore before. Maurice had just walked away from him. Julien slowly, blankly turned off the boom box and looked at his hands as if they weren't even attached to his arms. Something deep inside him changed. Julien sat down numbly, then proceeded to curl up on the floor and think about what was happening. Mort hesitated around him, not quite sure what to do, then sat down and fell asleep leaning against his feet.

* * *

Soo… Julien is sad and numb, Marlene is crying over Skipper, who left her, and also felt a weird sort of agony when Marlene mentioned flowers, and Maurice is angrier than usual. Doesn't everything seem very topsy-turvy and out of character? Yet, somehow, they had to do all this to make my plot workable. Stay tuned!


	2. Rescue?

Chapter Two: Rescue?

Guys, I'll tell you the truth. I wasn't creative enough to make up Marlene, Julien, Alice, or even Jerry. I'm too secret-agent-y. However, I did use them in this story. So, well, give DreamWorks all the credit that I never had.

* * *

Alice, her hair in an untidy red bun, approached the otter habitat with mixed feelings. For one thing, she was sad about sending away her only otter and one of the few girls in the zoo. She was also a little angry, because first the penguins run off in a plane that no one else sees, then the otter becomes aggressive, and needs to be sent to a humane euthanasia clinic in New Jersey. She had no idea why they had begged for her, but she did know that she shouldn't have to do this. She has a life, you know! She has better things to do than ship animals all over the country!

But, one feeling rose above the rest, and that was a feeling of "Okay, whatever, fine." After all the otter _did_ throw rocks at the escaping penguins. She had to get her out of there before she hurt another human or a fellow animal.

* * *

Marlene was curled up on her bed, gently crying. For once, it seemed, the lemurs didn't play their music loudly at all. Yet, she was sad. Well, of course she was sad, yet also about Julien not playing his horrible music. At least it would have drowned out the sound of her sobs.

Suddenly, the loud tramping of heavy work boots interrupted her thoughts. "Hello, little otter. I'm just going to give you a little shot of something, and you'll feel sleepy, but that's alright!" Marlene sat confused, until Alice came into her habitat after her and pulled her out by her stumpy tail. Scrabbling around, trying to find a way to get right-side up, Marlene scratched Alice.

"Why you little…!" Alice grabbed Marlene's arms and stuck the tranquilizer needle in deep for revenge. Marlene's head went a little woozy, then she found herself deep in dreamland. "Huh. That ought to take care of her." She carefully carried the dead-to-the-world otter to the crate waiting for her.

* * *

Julien woke up from his emptiness to see Alice loading Marlene into a crate maybe three times the size of the poor girl. Then Maurice's words came back to him. So, _now _you_ have to protect us from getting transferred away!_ A sense of duty and understanding swept through him. He felt a new kind of power that he didn't use to have. He got up in a regal position to declare his most important announcement yet.

"I must save Marlene from being transferred!"

* * *

Alice looked with disdain upon the crate. "Is this really the smallest you have? It's only a single otter."

Jerry, a man with a thick brown mustache and blue eyes, shrugged apologetically. "It's all we have. You don't like it, get another animal carrier that's willing to take the otter off your hands on such short notice and take her to New Jersey by the end of the week."

"Fine, fine." Alice rolled her eyes and set Marlene down in the crate. She was still sound asleep.

"So, just up to the ship, then it'll drop her off at Port Pleasant? And the truck will pick her up and take her to the place on Heiring Avenue?"

"Yep. Is she going or not?" Jerry seemed impatient, his hand on the keys clipped to his belt.

"Sure."

Jerry rolled his eyes and whispered, "Finally" under his breath. He picked up the crate's lid, fixed it tightly, put not air-tight, on her, and put the container in the back. He got in the front, buckled up, checked everything, and took off.

* * *

Julien snuck past the two arguing humans and reached the lidless crate easily enough. He hadn't known what his plan was, but the humans seemed distracted enough to give him time to make a plan.

He quickly assessed the situation. Marlene was lying on her back, with her arms spread openly. He saw that she was asleep, so slipped in after her, seeing that she wouldn't care. But then, just as he was trying to lift up Marlene, the room darkened rapidly. "Hm? What's happening?" Then he saw that the only light source was coming from the slats and air holes. The lid was tightly secured. Julien began to panic.

He threw himself up, but it didn't break off. He was too weak. If Marlene had been awake, they might have been able to combine their forces and get the lid off, but she was asleep. Julien sighed and sat down to wait.

At least there was lots of open space for him to stretch out. She wouldn't have to get all squished by him. Then she started snoring. Julien covered his long, sensitive ears. Still, Mort wasn't here, and it wasn't _too_ uncomfortable. But then she started sleep-crawling. She inched over to Julien.

"_Skipper…_" she sighed lovingly. She reached for Julien's paw, then started hugging him.

"Help!" Julien whispered, his eye beginning to twitch.

* * *

Yes, I am aware of the fact that not everything is perfect, just like it could really be. I wanted her to go to a place on Rector St. but I looked and it's all residential. I believe certain persons will be able to discern why I wanted it there. Also, my missions have never taken me to New York, so Alice and Jerry's conversation might not have been as true to their geography as I'd have liked. Also, if you're wondering why a New Jersey animal clinic would beg for an aggressive otter to be put down humanely, let me tell you why. For my plot to go the way I want it to. I promise, the characters will start acting the way they should in just a couple of chapters. Bear with me.


	3. Sounds Familiar

Chapter Three: Escape

Kvzpenguin: Don't stab Skipper, however angry at him you get. Just a warning.

Leonardo15: You found out my secret! Well, at least you know how to keep a thing or two classified. Don't tell anyone else about my real name, or your clues to what it is.

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* * *

Marlene awoke to a weird room, with absolutely no furniture. Even Joey had shrubs and trees and such. Then she turned to what she had been holding in her arms. She saw the face, and it clicked. She immediately let go.

Julien, however, was much worse than uncomfortable. Marlene had been holding him for two hours straight. All the while repeating that name. "Skipper. Skipper." And snoring in between. It was reminiscent of when she had gone wild. Only worse.

Marlene would have blushed harder if she'd liked Julien, but the fact was that she was nowhere near over Skipper. She was just embarrassed to have woken up _holding_ him. And she knew that she snored.

Then she remembered her dream. It was about Skipper. He had walked into her house and it had been just like the other day, but he had instead confessed his love and kissed her. She tried to force the blush out of her cheeks and concentrate on what was going on.

"So, uh, Julien… Where are we?"

"We are in a crate. You know, with the sitting and the waiting and the being bored. The trying to stay away from you in your sleep." He shot her a nasty look.

Marlene tried to ignore what he said, knowing it would only make her think of Skipper, and that would only make her heart hurt. She asked, "Yes, I can see that. Do you know where our crate is?"

"Oh, that. No. But you should be glad that my royal kingliness even decided to rescue you!"

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Sure. Do you know what you rescued me _from?_" It felt good to argue, even with Julien. It was like the old times that were yesterday.

"I saw you going into the crate, so I, being a heroic and brave lemur king, followed after you to save you from being transferred!"

Marlene got a sarcastic, skeptical look. "And you still don't know anything?"

Julien opened his mouth to defend himself, but found the word "No" tumbling out of his mouth instead.

"That's what I thought. Well, at least let's break open this crate and look around. Maybe we'll figure something out." Marlene waited for Julien to do something to open the box they were trapped in, but after a couple seconds, Julien still didn't make a move to do anything. "Well?"

"What? The lid is being too tight for me to open!" Julien gestured at the top, rather than his weak spaghetti-like arms.

Marlene rolled her eyes and started jumping at the ceiling. After several tries she punched it open.

"Eh, thanks," Julien said in his thick accent. And they both climbed out.

They found themselves on a deck. They soon lost their footing to the wet, slippery boards and the rolling motion of the waves, which affected them more due to their height. Hurrying, they scurried into where Marlene assumed the humans would be.

But no. Empty.

They tried another room. Empty again. Marlene was about to climb up the wall to see if there was a single human soul on the ship when she heard footsteps.

Excited to find someone who might give away information about where they were, yet scared of being found out of a container, Marlene rushed into the only hiding spot around with a smile on her face, dragging Julien by the arm with her into the hiding spot. This hiding spot happened to be some factory mess-ups that they couldn't use for carrying animals but couldn't send back. Marlene and Julien sucked in their guts and kept as deep in the shadows as possible.

The man walking by was tall, bald, and scary. He was talking into a walkie-talkie. "Don't worry. We picked up the otter. No, I haven't seen any penguins. No, no missing personnel. To be perfectly honest, I haven't found an unconscious body in a closet, thank you very much. What? A missing lem- But I haven't seen a single animal out of their cages all day!"

Marlene would have liked to hear more, but the sea chose that precise moment to tilt the ship at a dangerous angle. The bald man grabbed a pole to steady himself. Julien and Marlene's messed-up crate, however, slipped through the spaces between the railings. The walls were smooth. Neither of them had anything to hold on to as they flipped head over heels over head over heels over head into the waters below.

Julien was the first to rise from the salty currents. His fur was wet and there was a horrid taste on his lips. He kicked over to the top of the crate. Marlene came soon after. She didn't mind the fur and salt as much as he did, but she was still surprised. Soon seeing that the only thing that could keep them afloat was the crate, she began bailing out the water in it. Julien saw what she was doing, and started imitating her as best as he could. The crate rose quickly. When there were just tiny streams that they couldn't pick up any more, Marlene just sat back against the wall, panting.

They sat in silence for a long time. Then Marlene's stomach rumbled. She immediately looked about for a way to get food.

She quickly came to the conclusion that there might be fish somewhere in the depths about her, so dove back into the water. In the ocean, it was huge. Open water stretched out beneath her, taking her breath away. Of course not literally, but it was like the outside, only much bluer and darker. A chill ran through her. It was just so _big_. Time seemed to slow down, or maybe her heart and breathing sped up, but either way she was a new shade of ecstatic.

* * *

Julien waited patiently for Marlene to come back up, but after several minutes she didn't. He peered curiously over the edge of the crate, but saw nothing. A sky thick with rainclouds was making it dark and difficult to see. The water was stormy, all rippled and textured. Suddenly a brown shape rose from the depths with several fish on its back.

"M-marlene? Is that you?" Julien pressed himself against the wall, waiting to see the face. The head snapped up to see Julien. She was euphoric. He was scared. She started chasing him around the boat.

See, the boat is something like this: One lidless crate sharing one wall with a second crate to the west, with a third sharing the northern wall of the first. The third one has a lid, but it's ajar and covers part of the first crate.

Julien's climbing skills weren't exactly bad, but soon she got her arms about him, ready to kiss. Julien took a single step back, pulling her into the shadows and under a roof with him. Suddenly, she woke up.

"Julien!" She recognized the face immediately this time. She was also angry, since it was the second time she'd woken up to find herself embracing the stupid lemur in a crate.

Julien slowly moved about her, for him to step out in the rain and her to remain under the lid. "Hold on for a moment." He grabbed her shoulders and moved her under the crate and under the clouds, back and forth. The transformations were flawless.

"Whoa…" Marlene held her head for a moment. The rapid changes were dizzying. "Don't… do that… again…"

"Just one more time, Marlene. I need for you to get to a place where you can stay without getting all ugly and forceful."

"Wait, wuh?" Next thing she knew, Julien was carrying her into the third crate, and she wasn't the lightest thing Julien could have carried, slowing his progress. And, he wasn't quite as strong as Skipper, who would've been able to carry her without hesitation or the slightest pause. Of course, in her current state, he might have needed some help from Rico or Kowalski.

He took a few minutes dragging her, but soon got her in the crate covered the most by the lid and ordered her to stay in the shadows. She waited a little awkwardly while Julien got the fish she had dropped from the other room. He crawled over to her like a spider and handed her a fish. "Here." Sitting down, he sniffed his own fish, making a face. He slowly picked off all the scales, and tried to eat the cold, raw fish, but just couldn't quite bear it.

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Here. I'll take that." Julien (almost gratefully) handed her the fish. She finished them both.

"Soo…" Julien looked around, as if hoping to see the answer before he finished the question. "What am I supposed to eat?"

* * *

I suppose that's canon enough behavior. Also, I missed the Dr. Blowhole special! My undercover missions ran late. And by late I mean an hour and a half late. The enemy was very suspicious, so they made me sit and let the special pass me by. I spent a lot of that time staring at the floor and thinking about Skipper, who is my favorite character despite what conclusions one may draw from this fic. On another note, I recently celebrated my birthday. I am now officially another year older. Yay me. (Yes, that was a bit of sarcasm.)


End file.
